Razor blade conditioner



March 11, 19 47. ARNEST v 2,417,040

RAZOR BLADE CONDITIONER Filed Aug. 23, 1945 IN VEN TOR. J/a rryLA rllesf,

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Patented Mar. 11, 1947 UNITED STATES c yaTEN -l. OFFICE RAZOR BLADE CONDITIONER Harry L. Arnest, Arlington, Va.

Application August 23, 1945, Serial No. 612,218 1 Claim. (01. 51 211) The object of the present invention is to provide simple and eiiicient means for sharpening safety razor blades.

It has long been recognized that a used safety razor blade which has become dull can be quickly restored to condition for further use by a straightening action of the blade edge rather than by an actual grinding of the edge. Under a powerful microscope the cutting edge of the very thin and fragile razor blades now in use are seen to present the appearance of a multiplicity of teeth. After a blade has been used upon a stiff heard, these teeth, under a microscope are seen to have become bent out of alignment with each other and it has been found that if they are restored to alignment, the blade will out about as well as when new.

It has also been found that the teeth may be restored to alignment by moving the blade back and forth over any hard surface of such a degree of concavity that the blade is slightly flexed during such movement. Ordinary drinking glasses and other small glasses or glass jars have been employed for this purpose.

It is the primary object of the invention to provide a razor blade conditioner consisting of a circular jar or cup-like body of a hard, smooth material such as glass, porcelain, or the like, said body havin incorporated in its make-up a Well for the reception of a blade lubricant, such as oil or water, the assembly being such that the lubricant may be fed drop by drop to the blade by the mere act of tipping the receptacle.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a plan view of a blade conditioner constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view therethrough showing the same tipped to blade-conditioning position.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

The conditioner consists in the main of a muglike body 5 that is preferably, though not necessarily, provided with a handle 5.

A V-shaped partition 1 extends substantially throughout the length of the receptacle constituted by the body 5 and divides the same into a blade conditioning compartment 8 and a lubricant-receiving well 9.

When the device is not in use, as for example when placed upon the shelf of a medicine cabinet, it occupies the upright position illustrated in Figure 2 and the lubricant of oil or water is held in the well 9.

In use, the conditioner is tipped over upon its side and when it has been tipped to a sufiicient degree, some of the lubricant reaches and passes through a small opening ill formed in the body of the V-shaped partition, said opening being of such size as to permit only a drop at a time, of the lubricant, to pass therethrough into the blade conditionin compartment 8.

The blade is introduced into the conditioner through the open end I I, the length of said blade extending from said open end toward the bottom or rear wall l2. The user then moves the blade back and forth, circumferentially of the receptacle, and over the wall 5a thereof. The amount of lubricant delivered into the conditioning compartment 8, is determined by the degree to which the conditioner is tipped and the supply of lubricant may be interrupted at any time by merely tipping the receptacle to a position where the lubricant no longer reaches the opening Ill. To prevent any of the lubricant from passing out of the open end of the conditioner, a lip or flange i3 is provided around said open end.

While I prefer to use the opening I 0, for the reason that it may be made small enough to insure drop by drop feeding of the lubricant, it is clear that if the partition I terminated at the position of the opening It! (Fig. 3) the lubricant would flow over the forward edlge of the partition I and the chamber 8 and I wish to include such construction within the scope of the claim in this application.

As far as I am aware, I am the first to provide a simple and inexpensive article of this nature embodying an in-built fountain for a lubricant and means for feeding the lubricant to the straightening surface by the mere act of tipping the receptacle, thus leaving both hands of the operator free, the left hand to grasp the handle 6 and the right hand to manipulate the blade.

I therefore wish it to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction of the device set forth herein but it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit or the appended claim.

Having described my invention, what I claim A razor blade conditioner comprising a cup-like receptacle of hard, smooth material, substantially circular in cross-section, a partition extending lengthwise thereof dividing said receptacle into a relatively large blade conditioning chamber, and a small lubricant-receiving chamber, one end of said receptacle being closed by a transverse bottom and the other being open to permit the end-wise insertion of a blade thereinto, said partition having a lubricant-feeding opening formed therethrough at a point much 15 nearer the open end of the receptacle than the closed end, as and for the purpose set forth.

HARRY L. ARNEST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date 10 Number Name 1,841,409 Ireland Jan. 19, 1932 1,920,491 Wolf Aug. 1, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 298,921 Italian May 12, 1931 

